What are your thoughts on the election result?

You may prove correct or not about a period of low growth in UK in 2017 - only time will tell. As you note, the UK actually did very well in Q3 and Q4 2016 - the point is that growth can and does accelerate, growth can and does slow - it's cyclical - and that's quite normal.

My research couldn't identify exactly how many periods of low growth and/or recession the UK has experienced since joining the EU in 1973 - but being born in 1953 I experienced all of them as an adult - and there was certainly no shortage. However, strangely, I don't remember our membership of the EU during that period being blamed as the sole causation for those periods of low growth and/or recession (unlike our forthcoming non membership will likely be endlessly cited as the sole causation of any bad economic news). The economy is cyclical - and whether members of the EU or not that will not change - there will always be periods of high growth and low growth, boom and recession - it was ever thus.

But however this plays out - we will at least be masters of our own destiny. The day we simply can't cope as a nation without the 'guiding benevolence' of Merkel and Junker et al will be a very, very sad day indeed.

I've seen 6 changes of party-in-government in my life and I don't believe any has impacted on how my life has gone. As a result, not caring which party wins makes for a very relaxed life......and I'm very relaxed right now.

If I was appointed Dictator, the first thing I'd do is ban political reporting and phone-ins etc. Seems to me that this is the root of the problem. All they seem to do is inflame one side or the other and give the impression that every single run of the mill political event has some massive implication - which it doesn't. This has resulted in the (utterly false imo) impression the everything is 'chaotic'.

Look out the window, nothing much changes - the only beneficiaries are political journalists/pundits who are making-out like bandits by keeping us all angry.

Actually, very large numbers do not mean much to most people.  Politicians talk about millions here, billions there, but it just means a lot of dough to most people, even though if presented on a per adult or household basis it may not be that much.  But at least people could put these large sums into a familiar context.  For example, the CAP costs billions but none of us seem to pay for it directly.  It's somebody else's dosh.  But if told that the CAP costs every household £1000 per year, wouldn't that make people think?  By the way, the £1000 per household was a figure from a few years back when I was actively involved in policy analysis - it may be more or less today. 

What about GDP growth which is a favoured measure by economists and some on this thread?  It has nothing to do with economic well-being.  If immigration boosts population numbers and some of these work, GDP rises.  But average incomes may well fall, and they certainly will in those sectors in which the immigrants are competing.  Governments like GDP growth (and therefore immigration) because that means a larger tax base.  But the cost of immigration (large-scale, I should add, such as we have seen in the last decade) falls largely on the poorer unskilled segment of the population, who also face increased competition for housing, while the extra demand for hospital and medical services, space etc falls on the general population as evidenced by rising queues for health services, increasing congestion, pollution etc.

The so-called liberals just see cheaper goods and services from this influx, and most of them are well off enough to enjoy their increased purchasing power.  Small wonder Corbyn made inroads.  His vote was part of the broader anti-establishment sentiment which, I would have thought, the Conservative party should have recognised.

And yet the British public swallowed the downright lies of the media and lifer domestic politicians wholesale...



The whole sorry fiasco is summed up by one simple dichotomy.

TM was a leaver-at-heart pretending to be a remainer for career advantage.
BJ was a remainer-at-heart pretending to be a leaver for career advantage.

We'll be quick to blame someone else - the EU, the politicians, the voters in 2016 - if it does turn out badly.  But yes, whatever happens we chose it by a narrow majority, when asked a question that, a small had core aside, was not high on most people's priorities.

Even ignoring the difference in relative weightings of each campaign in using those numbers...

Several figures are quoted on this page...
www.strongerin.co.uk/get_the_facts
£38/week average wage - attributed to the TUC.
£350/year food cost - attributed to the LSE.
£4,300/year cost to average family - attributed to HM Treasury.

Meanwhile, Andrew Dilnot, head of the UK Statistics Authority, explicitly told the Leave campaign to stop using the £350m figure a month before the vote - and the CPS are investigating its use.

Then there were the various other outright lies and utter misrepresentations in the official one-per-household leaflet that was sent out.